from the good-luck-with-that dept

It appears that the MPAA's whac-a-mole game of pointlessness continues. As a whole bunch of you have been submitting, the MPAA's international arm (just chop off the last "A" in the name and you get the MPA) is asking a court in the UK to issue an injunction forcing ISP BT to block everyone's access to Newzbin. Newzbin, of course, is a Usenet aggregator, that was found liable for infringement via its service, in large part because the site's staffers actively promoted that you could use the service to infringe. This was no surprise, as courts don't look kindly on encouraging people to infringe. What then followed was a bizarre and convoluted mess, in which Newzbin reappeared -- though it's not entirely clear how or who was behind it.

So, now, the MPA has decided that it's easier to just try to block access to it. Apparently the UK already has a "Great Firewall" type of system that requires ISPs to block access to sites deemed to be child porn sites, and the MPA says that it should be simple to start censoring "pirate" sites that it doesn't like as well. Of course, if you don't see the slippery slope there, you probably missed the story about how a list of "pirate sites" to be blocked, which was put together for ad giant GroupM with help from MPAA members Viacom and Warner Bros., included such evil sites as the Internet Archive, Vimeo and SoundCloud. How long until the MPAA asks them to be blocked from the UK as well? Of course, this is what happens when "fighting piracy," rather than "helping studios adapt and make money" is your number one priority. You end up with an entire "content protection" division with multiple vice presidents... but no "here's how we adapt and make money" division. And all those "content protection" lawyers have to have something to do, so why not press for blanket censorship? It sure beats working...

from the itchy-trigger-finger dept

The motion picture industry has a habit of overstating its victories against copyright infringement. It appears that one Chinese firm is so upset about this that it's going back to court. The MPA (the international version of the MPAA) had sued the Chinese site Jeboo for distributing Hollywood movies online last year. Earlier this year, the studios and Jeboo reached a settlement, at which point the MPA announced triumphantly that Jeboo had stopped "infringing activities," had apologized and paid a substantial sum. Jeboo, however, said that the terms of the deal were confidential and as a part of the deal, the company absolutely did not admit to any illegal activity. To Jeboo, the MPA's announcement suggests otherwise, and therefore Jeboo is now back in court suing the MPA for its portrayal of the settlement. The MPA folks must be stunned. They've all gotten away with exaggerating for so long the idea that someone would call them on it (in court, no less) must be a surprise.